Backlash Back Home

The agreement over President Bush's judicial nominees earlier this week has played well in Washington, but one of its key figures, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, finds himself in hot water back home. The state Republican Party says it has received more than 900 calls in just 36 hours — most of which were against Graham, and came from the very people who helped elect him to the Senate.

One active Republican who voted for Graham two years ago, Cheryl Dashnaw of Summerville, says she's appalled by the senator, insisting, "He's helping the Democrats subvert the Constitution." She tells the State newspaper she won't be voting for Graham in 2008. Graham, meanwhile, says he expects to regain his critics' confidence once the agreement plays out.

U.S. Military Targeting Journalists?

The president of the Newspaper Guild — the nation's largest journalists union — has accused the U.S. military of targeting journalists in Iraq, insisting, "it's a scandal." At a conference in St. Louis, Linda Foley said, "Journalists are ... being targeted for real in places like Iraq. And what outrages me as a representative of journalists is that there's not more outrage about the number and the brutality, and the cavalier nature of the U.S. military toward the killing of journalists in Iraq."

She now tells Editor and Publisher magazine that she was just trying to discuss how journalists are often scapegoated for their coverage.

Wanted To Have A ‘Pair’

Wednesday's Senate vote to confirm Priscilla Owen's nomination to a federal bench was announced at the time as 56-43, in favor of confirmation. Two Democrats and 54 Republicans were counted as voting "yes." But, once all was said and done — the final count ended up being 55-43. What happened?

Well, it turns out Alaska Republican Ted Stevens, an Owen supporter, later changed his vote from "yes" to "present." This after realizing he told Hawaii Democrat Daniel Inouye — who opposed Owen, but couldn't attend the vote — that he would cancel out, or what's known as "pair," his vote with Inouye's absence.

Sign Taken Down

Remember the North Carolina pastor we told you about earlier this week, who outraged Muslims with a sign outside his church that said, "The Koran needs to be flushed"?

Well, he has now apologized, saying he "deeply regrets" it. In a statement released to the press, he says, "When I posted the sign in front of the church, it was my intent to affirm and exalt the Bible and its teachings ... Now I realize how offensive this is to [Muslims]."